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CCS football playoffs: Los Gatos beats Wilcox in overtime

By Rick Eymer

Correspondent

Posted:
11/23/2012 11:13:37 PM PST

Updated:
11/23/2012 11:52:39 PM PST

Los Gatos senior Nico Aimonetti lined up with his heels against the goal line knowing this could possibly be the final play of his high school football career. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound defensive end dug in.

Wilcox had just scored in overtime, and coach Dan Brown decided this was it. He gambled everything on a two-point conversion play.

Chargers quarterback Kenny Dipko took the snap and began running down the line, looking for an opening. He found a slight hole, dropped his head and tried to bull his way in for the winning points.

Aimonetti, with a little help from junior nose guard Bailey McNally, met Dipko and stopped him inches short of the goal line.

The host Wildcats rose from the pile with a 21-20 victory over the Chargers and a spot in the Central Coast Section Division II championship game next week against St. Francis, which beat Aragon 41-7 in the other semifinal Friday night.

"They were trying to block me to the outside, and I was able to read it," Aimonetti said. "I got inside and saw the quarterback turn up. I knew the goal line was right behind me, and I had to connect. I had to push him backward."

It was a night of big defensive stops for both teams, which combined to lose five fumbles.

Wilcox (8-4) had a chance at the end because the Chargers, who had a five-game winning streak end, stopped Los Gatos, which won its fourth in a row, four times on fourth-down plays.

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Roland Luke, who rushed for 49 yards, knocked down a pass and later stopped Wildcats quarterback Nick Bawden 3 yards short of a go-ahead touchdown with under three minutes to play. Seniors Kanaloa and Sefa Mikaio also came up big defensively.

Bawden threw for 198 yards on 13-of-26 passing. He also ran for a touchdown. Sophomore running back Joey Woods raced for 59 yards on the ground and caught four passes for 57 yards.

Woods scored the tying touchdown for Los Gatos (8-4) from a yard out with 1:49 remaining to play and then carried three defenders across the goal line to finish a 10-yard run in overtime.

Delshawn Mitchell caught scoring passes of 45 and 78 yards from Dipko and put the Chargers within 21-20 with a 1-yard run in overtime. Mitchell led all runners with 110 yards on 18 carries. On any other day, he'd be the player of the game.

The Lancers have won three straight and have outscored their opponents 107-7 in that span.

"We just have to play hard," Aimonetti said. "And we have to stop them and score ourselves."

St. Francis 41, Aragon 7: Mike Lauck ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as St. Francis pulled away from Aragon. The upstart Dons battled the favored Lancers on even terms, tied 7-7, until Lauck's 9-yard scoring run broke the deadlock just 14 seconds before halftime.

St. Francis took control with two touchdowns in each of the final two quarters. Alex Andrighetto moved from slotback to running back after halftime as the Lancers shifted to a ground-based offense that could not be stopped. Andrighetto racked up 103 yards on just 11 carries and Lauck totaled 111 yards on 13 rushes (11 for 130 if sacks were not counted). Lauck completed 8 of 19 passes for 177 yards, including throws to Austin Woodard for a 29-yard touchdown and to Austin Guibor on a 42-yard scoring play.

Aragon's Nathaniel Blood connected on 14 of 24 passes for 154 yards. The highlight play was a 29-yard toss to J.D. Elzie on fourth-and-10 late in the second quarter, with Elzie splitting two tacklers to break free.